Finland and Sweden, which were confident of their membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), met a sudden change. Joining NATO requires unanimous approval from 30 member states, as key member Turkey has put the brakes on it. Turkey wants secession and independence from its own country, and has strongly demanded that the two countries support the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which is struggling with arms, to suspend support and lift the arms embargo on Turkey.
The PKK, which Turkey has taken issue with, is the largest armed group of about 40 million Kurds living in various countries in the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, and Syria, including southeastern Turkey. Kurds make up about 18% of today’s population of Turkey (about 83 million), of which 2 million live in Istanbul, the Turkish capital. The Kurds, once the largest ethnic group in the Middle East, have longed for an independent nation after World War I, after their territories were forcibly returned by five Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey. In particular, when independence was not achieved due to strong opposition from Turkey, the PKK had been carrying out a powerful armed independence movement against Turkey since August 1984. The ceasefire in 2013 stopped gunfire, but two years later, when the ceasefire was broken, the PKK engaged in an armed struggle again, emerging as the biggest problem and threat to the Turkish government. The PKK is now classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union as well as Turkey.